Top privacy at INOFEST 2026 in Nitra: Cybersecurity in Manufacturing, Preparing for NIS2, and the Cost of Failure
On Tuesday, September 29, 2026, we participated in the seventh annual INOFEST Innovation Festival, organized by the INOVATO innovation cluster. The event took place at the Creative Center of the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra. This year’s program focused primarily on the transformation of the automotive industry. It also addressed financing the modernization of companies, cybersecurity in manufacturing, innovations in agriculture, and the future of Slovak regions.
We returned to INOFEST again this year, building on our participation in last year’s event. During the afternoon session titled The Future of the Automotive Industry: From Vehicle to Ecosystem, our colleague Eva Winter delivered a presentation titled Cybersecurity in Practice: Benefits and Risks.
Cybersecurity as a Prerequisite for Production Operations
Today, both production and supply chains depend on digital systems. A cybersecurity incident, therefore, is not merely a technical problem; it can halt production, delay deliveries, and disrupt relationships with customers. In the presentation, we used specific examples to illustrate both sides of this issue. The first aspect was a manufacturing company’s systematic preparation for the requirements of the NIS2 Directive and Act No. 69/2018 Coll. on Cybersecurity. The second aspect was the cost of failure, which we illustrated using the case of a cyberattack on Jaguar Land Rover.
Practical Takeaways
For companies in the automotive and supply chain sectors, cybersecurity is not merely a matter of compliance with legislation. It is also a prerequisite for building trust with customers and a key component of competitiveness. From our experience, we know that effective prevention is significantly less costly than dealing with the consequences of an attack. By effective prevention, we mean risk analysis, established security measures, prepared incident response processes, and trained employees.
We would like to thank the organizers at INOVATO for the invitation and all participants for their thought-provoking questions and discussion. If your company is preparing for NIS2, implementing security measures, or assessing cyber risks, we’d be happy to help.
